Within the next month or so I'm going to have my head gasket replaced and I am in the process of getting ready for it. I already have my MLS gasket sitting in my garage but I have a few questions.

1 What is the best place to get ARP head bolts? Should I even bother with ARPs or should I just get whatever head bolts they have at like Autozone or someplace. If I should get ARPs how much do they run?

2 When you take heads off how often are they warped? My car hasn't overheated or anything in the time I've owned it which is about half of its life. I'm hoping not to have to have my head taken off, then bring it down to a machine and wait several days for them to get around to milling it for me, and then wait for the mechanics to put the head back on.

Thanks in advance,

Dean.

Here's some answers, IMO of course:
1. I'd get new head bolts, the factory ones aren't all that great and ARP's are real good. I can't remember how much I paid for mine, but I just got them straight from ARP. You can get them other places, I just can't think of them right now

2. You need to check the head for trueness and flatness even though you think it will be ok. Take it to a machine shop and have them check it, if it's off or warped even slightly you'll need to have it milled or decked. Trust me, there's nothing worse than doing all that work only to have go out again b/c you didn't have it machined.

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Thanks for the info. I have another question though. If I have my head milled to the specs that you said will I need adjustable cam gears or anything like that or is that just for when you have alot milled off your head?

Dean.

If the just take off a few thousandth to true the surface you won't have to worry about adj. cam gears, the difference is minimal, if you are talking about taking of .030" then I'd get them to be able to adjust.

Most definately get the head checked by a machine shop.



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What ^^^ said

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Thanks guys.

Sorry to keep bugging you guys but whats the most you think I can have milled off with out buying adjustable cam gears?

I figure if I'm going to pay to have it milled I might as well try to get as much of a gain out of it as possible.

It's tricky... because you can actually mill so much it falls back dead on... If you are doing any significant raise for compression .020-.030" is a good range, should give you in the 10-10.5:1 compression ratio with that. I would recommend them.



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